Category: Slacker

Week 2 Training Recap

Upcoming races– Castle to Coast 8.2 miles
Surf City 13.1

This week’s focus– Working on base building

Yeah, this will be quick.

Monday- Rest
Tuesday-Sick
Wednesday-Sick
Thursday-Sick
Friday-Sick
Saturday-Sick
Sunday- 3.65 miles

Well, that didn’t go according to plan. The sore throat I’d been fighting/ignoring for a week or so turned into so much more. By Tuesday, I felt horrible and ended up leaving work early. I treated myself to In-n-Out on the way home and spent the afternoon sleeping. Somehow In-n-Out has become my go-to sick food. Which considering I drive past one 2x a day, only getting it when I feel completely crappy is a win in my book. 😏

Wednesday, I felt slightly better and I headed to work. I finished out the day, came home, posted a blog post and was hopeful for at least getting on the bike on Thursday. The denial was strong at this point, my right eye was starting to swell. I went to bed with an ice pack and hoped for the best. Thursday morning arrived and my eye was damn near swollen shut. I hate calling sick on a regular day but we are also running short staffed right now and I was supposed to have lunch with my uncle. We have been trying to plan lunch for years but it never works out so the last thing I wanted to do was cancel. So I dragged myself to work. Bad idea. I made it half the day before being booted out the door. And I had to cancel on my uncle. Boo. Once again, I was on my way home early. No In-n-Out this time just more sleep. I learned my Up band is smart enough to know when I am napping though.

I made it through work on Friday only to go home and crash. Seriously when did walking to the copy machine become so exhausting? No lie, I slept for 11 hours on Friday night. 11! How is that even possible? I did feel a little better on Saturday though. That didn’t stop me from sleeping for a freaky amount of time on Saturday night though.

Today, I got out for a slow 3.65 mile walk. It was in the low 50’s and perfect running weather but I was bundled up like it was in the 30’s. 😝 But I had zero coughing fits! Which was great since I somehow forgot my water bottle on top of my car. Oops. And I could have checked the weather better as it started to rain on me on the way back. 😢

So, yeah not the way I had hoped to greet the first week of 2016. I seem to get super sick every January. 2 partial work days is better than I fared last year so calling that a win? Now the test is to ease back into things this week… oh with a race in 5 days. Sure no problem, right?

Tell me all about your running adventures this last week!

Or non running ones too, I watched way too much tv. 😆

Mid Week Musings 5

And I’m sick. Boo. I tried ignoring it but the damn germs won. I even went home sick on Tuesday. Then proceeded to sleep for the next few hours. I haven’t done any sort of exercise since Sunday. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for being lazy- slacker is in my name after all- but not being able to run because I am sick? Not cool.

El Nino has arrived. Or at least 2 days of it. I hydroplaned on my way to work this morning along with plenty of thunder and lightening. Trees were down all the place, including in our parking lot at work. Home town flooded pretty badly when we had a freak thunderstorm in July, I am curious how my usual running route looks. They’ve made some storm preparations but what can hay bales do?

Have I mentioned that I am a nerd who loves my tv shows? Both Downton Abbey and Teen Wolf are back. 😏 Now I vacillate between confused/happy/sad on Sundays and Tuesdays. What is going on?!

I have a race in 10 days. How did that happen? I am so not ready. And I had the date wrong. I was convinced the race was on Sunday but an email yesterday corrected that. The race is on Saturday. I know the difference is only 1 day but for some reason it’s freaking me out. This will definitely be more a long run with people than a race. But 8.2 miles equals instant PR right?

Does constant coughing count as an ab workout? No? Bummer. I hoping to attempt a ride on the stationary bike. Coughing in my house is acceptable, coughing in the gym? Not so much. Fingers crossed I can push through a couple of miles.

I never notice how long 90 seconds is until I started drinking hot tea. That takes forever!

How has your week been?

What are you watching lately?

Week 1- Training Recap

Upcoming races– Castle to Coast 8.2 m
Surf City Half

Focus– Finding the rails. As you saw in my mileage post, I derailed a bit in December.

I’ve been doing some thinking and with having a goal free 2016, I decided I didn’t want my recaps to be based around race training. The year has 52 weeks though right? Who wants to bet on how long it will take me to lose count? 😝 That said, I still want the upcoming bigger races highlighted so I figured I would open with those as well as what I focused on during the week. This is all new so I may be ironing out a few kinks in the next few weeks.

Monday- Rest
Tuesday-4.66 miles
Wednesday-Rest
Thursday-Rest- crazy day at work/ New Year’s Eve
Friday- 1.25 miles
Saturday-Work/ Cleaning of the closet
Sunday- 6.22 miles

I worked on Saturday so I had a half day on Tuesday. I was feeling optimistic and had wanted to try for a longer run around 8 miles at the river path. My stomach had it’s own plans and was an asshat Monday and Tuesday. I still wanted to try to get a few good miles though. I headed to the lake path to see how things went. If worse came to worst, I figured the laps of the lake would make it easier to get back to the car. It was actually a pretty good steady run but by 4 laps in, I knew I was done.

I really could have used a run on New Year’s Eve but my gym closes super early and there was no way I could get there before work ended. Boo.

Ok, Friday looks small but it was awesome in reality. A local business- Moore Sports Recovery had posted about a short New Year’s Day group run led by none other than Olympic hopeful Jordan Hasay. Hmm, really? But I don’t mingle well with strangers, I’m so awkward. Never fear- enter Heather of SloLuckyRuns and Ashley at Rather Be Runnin’. Both are bloggers that I had multiple conversations with on blogs, Twitter and Instagram but not met in person. We’d seen each other at races but never really chatted. Where do I sign up?

The event was great. It gathered quite the crowd for a smaller event. Jordan started the event with a group stretch and then we all went out for the run. It turned out to be shorter than planned but that’s ok. I ran with Heather- she knows everyone!- and Ashley and it was awesome. After the run, we took a tour of the recovery area, Ashley tested out some of recovery tools and we took photos with Jordan. She was super nice and it was great meeting her. After, Heather, Ashley and I chatted so long we were there longer than anyone else. 😄 I can’t wait to hang out with these ladies again.

Saturday was odd, I had planned on running after work but it just never happened. I started cleaning my closet and it just grew into this huge organizational project that ended up expanding to rearranging all the bedroom furniture.

I’ve been fighting a tickle in my throat for days and Sunday morning it reared it’s head. I’m not very surprised, people were dropping like flies last week at work. I slept a little longer and ran some errands before heading out for a run. The weather was perfect for a t-shirt and shorts (mid 50’s) but I bundled up in full pants and sleeves just to be on the safe side. I knew it was going to be a slower run and again I was fine with that. Overall, I ran 6.2 miles around an 11:00 minute pace. Some miles were faster and some were slower. I took fewer walk breaks than I thought I would need so I am calling it a win.

So it wasn’t a super strong week but it went a long way to getting to back on track. I found the rails again! Three days of running is a good start to that. I am keeping my plans flexible for the coming week. The first heavy El Nino storms are supposed to hit so I may be spending a lot of time on the treadmill. In the gym. In the first week of January. Wish me luck!

How was your New Year’s?

Did you have a good weekend?

2015- The Shiny and the Dull

Alrighty then, since my last post covered most of the dull, it’s time for the shiny!

2015 saw- 14 races with quite a few shiny moments.

My first 25K– Mom ran it too!

I finally ran Surf City. I watched as NikeC ran this race years ago and it inspired me to run my first half marathon in 2011. It was nice coming full circle.

Wine Country saw one of the best half marathons I’ve run in a long time. Fitting that Wine Country was also that first half marathon years ago.

Smiles at the end. :) — Smiles at the end. 🙂

Fastest mile– Holy crap, somehow in a year of stomach issues and less than stellar training, I threw down a 7:48?!

New PR!!! Similar sentiments to above 🙂 I ran a 27:10 at the Central Coast Challenge Cancer. Say what?!

Part of a team- HOB Fun Run saw the biggest bunch of matching shirts. 🙂

Kara Goucher! The beach! Big Sur Half Marathon had one of the prettiest courses and I saw elites! Ok, they looked like a blur as they zoomed past me but it was still awesome. 🙂 Oh and I actually paid for a race photo!

Race I was most proud of-

SLO Half marathon. 2:15:06 The one where I ate asphalt.

No where near the finish time I had hoped for but by the far the strongest race run both mentally and physically. Combine the fall at mile 5 with the horrible GI issues from mile 7-finish and it was a rough race. However I stayed focused and positive and I have no regrets about any part of how I ran this race. I was also lucky enough to be a SLO Marathon ambassador for the second year in a row. I do love this race.

Best Bling-

Oh this was a hard one. I think it’s a 3 way tie- a surfboard, a barn and an otter. Oh wait, 4- stained glass has to be included too!

What was your Shiny?

Happy New Year’s Eve!!!

Surf City Week 2-Christmas Lights & Sirens

I ran at night!! You guys- I went out in the dark and the cold and ran at night!! 😄😄😃😃

But before we get to that, here’s a brief recap of last week’s slacker-ness err, training.

Monday– Rest
Tuesday– Work holiday party
Wednesday– Treadmill 5K
Thursday– 2.70 miles – OUTSIDE!
Friday– Rest
Saturday-Unexpected emergency road trip
Sunday– Rest- tired, stressed and way behind

So, yeah still not awesome but that’s ok. Sometimes life rears it’s horns and you change your plans. I’m still playing catch up. But let’s talk about the exciting thing-

I ran at night! It was slow and short but it was kind of awesome. 😃😃 I had been considering attempting a night run for a while now. I’m a big baby when it comes to running in the dark. You never know what’s out there, right? But, I figured realistically I had a better shot of running at night than I did in the early mornings. One- I like my bed and sleeping until the last moment. Two-less likely to have a run in with a creature of some sort. Or at least that’s what I tell myself.

I packed 2 sets of clothes- one for an outdoor run and one for the gym if I chickened out. I don’t own any night gear and I didn’t want to buy anything because what if this was a one and done? I’m not sure what I was thinking though- I had purple pants, a coral shirt, black and yellow jacket, a coral headband and mismatched gloves. Maybe I hoped the tacky-ness would be extra visible? 😜 I had reflective strips on my arms and an ancient, tiny flashlight. My jacket was supposed to be reflective- spoiler- it’s not.

I parked under a light at a local business and headed for my route. I chose one of the busier streets in town but I chose it for it’s sidewalks, uneven as they are, a few streetlights and the sea of Christmas lights. I started out slow and I was presently surprised at how much light the Christmas lights gave off. The temp was in the mid 40’s and the jacket was too much. I stopped half a mile in to tie it around my waist.

The dark is funny- I felt like I was hauling but in reality I was putting along at an 11 minute pace. I laughed out loud when my Garmin buzzed at mile 1. I don’t usually run on the sidewalk on this street, if I run this street I am in the bike lane. I knew the sidewalk was uneven but dang! I stumbled a few times and there were a few times the sidewalk disappeared entirely. Hello!

My plan was to keep it short, sweet and uneventful and it was working out to be that way. Until just shy of 2 miles. I was coming up on an intersection and heard what sounded like a school fire alarm. I stopped and tried to figure out where it was coming from. I finally pinpointed it to an older apartment building down the side street. I wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t smell smoke and everything else seemed quiet. I finally took my cue from the people playing ping pong in their side yard. They didn’t seem alarmed at all, so I thought maybe this happens all the time at 6:30? I ran on down the street. I hit my planned turn around and headed back the way I came. As I came back to the siren intersection, I didn’t hear anything so I was relieved. Only to discover a fire truck now parked outside the apartment building! What?!?! Last time I trust people hanging out in their yard!

The route is short, so I was back at my car around 2.7 miles and part of that was already overlapping. So this would route would work more as a shakeout/ easy run than anything else. Plus, once the Christmas lights come down it could turn a lot darker. That said it was kind of awesome and it pushed my boundaries a little. I can’t wait to try it again. 😊 With a better flash light.

I had good intentions of running this past weekend but late night phone calls are rarely a good thing. My mom and I ended up heading down to LA for a family emergency. It wasn’t the best of days.

Sunday brought the realization of just how behind I am with Christmas shopping. And laundry. Seriously, I did 4 loads. So, like I said before- not the best training week. But again, I am ok with it. This week should be interesting as I have to head back to LA again. This time for myself though, I have another appointment at USC for my stomach. Nice timing right?

But it’s Christmas week!!! Are you ready?

Do you like running in morning dark or night dark?